Southern Vermont Area Health Education Center Inc

Health careers exploration: classroom presentations and learning modules - includes didactic, hands-on activities and health professional guest presentations to highlight different health career sectors (e.g. Behavioral health, clinical and primary care, public health). Career and technical education centers and high school career exploratory programs are targeted for outreach. Medquest and advanced medquest - southern vermont ahec's signature summer pathway programs involve intensive, multi-day opportunities for high school students where the students have the option to earn an industry-recognized credential. Medquest is an on-site, 3-day, non-residential program for high school students to explore a variety of health careers in a rich learning environment with engaging clinical content and group discussions, skill- building activities, job shadowing, mentoring, career planning and reflection, and dialogue with health professionals. First-year medical students (ahec scholars) serve as mentors for the program. Learning outcomes involve skills and knowledge in the areas of teamwork, patient care, health careers exploration, self-reflection, and health equity and inclusion. Advanced medquest is a 5-day non-residential advanced program for medquest alumni that delivers more in-depth content and exploration opportunities, longer job shadows, more personalized mentoring, and a full day of activities, including simulation labs and career support services, at a local university. Health education resources & opportunities (hero) - consists of an afterschool partnership with an alternative education program for high school students with barriers to learning and employment who are underserved in a traditional school setting. Students and health professional mentors meet in-person and complete a health career exploration curriculum together after school during the academic year. Hero involves exploring personal interests, matching interests to a health career pathway, and increasing general health science vocabulary and knowledge. Students have the option to earn a cpr/stop the bleed certification, tour the local hospital, meet with hospital human resources about career opportunities and guidance, and design a resume.

Health careers preparation: college student health internship program (cship) - includes part-time, work-based learning experience for 10 - 15 students enrolled in a post- secondary program in a health science major or concentration. Internships are 50 or 100 hours and may be performed on-site or remotely, depending on the project or site requirements of our partner organizations, and can be focused on health improvement projects in areas such as medicine, mental or behavioral health, prevention, and community and public health. Interns acquire at least two of the career competencies listed by the national association of colleges and employees (nace) and address at least one of the ahec scholars focus areas. College-readiness programming - consists of a summer program in partnership with a local university, to provide health career exploration and support activities to upward bound students (first generation college and/or low- income high school students). Skill-building workshops for college students - includes a partnership with a local university to offer clinical and medical skills workshops to their undergraduate students. Workshops designed for students interested in health professions requiring graduate study (including physicians, physicians assistants, physical therapy, etc.) and want to gain new skills. Programming is a collaboration with academic departments, pre-medicine student clubs, medical reserve corps volunteers, and a u.s. Army medical recruiter.

Practitioner support: professional support and development - supports the continuing education and professional development for health professionals in vermont by providing training and educational resources and other support. For recruitment, southern vermont ahec identifies workforce shortages through an annual primary care survey and by collaborating with the university of vermont office of primary care in targeted workforce recruitment in southern vermont. Additionally, the organization administers the vermont education loan repayment program for primary care providers to ensure a stable supply of primary care providers. College of medicine student support - engages students in family medicine clinical rotations in southern vermont and in special summer education and mentoring or research and quality initiative projects to explore the opportunities and challenges of delivering quality healthcare in rural vermont. Also, provides housing support for medical residents and fellows completing training in southern vermont.